Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-02-17
PENSION VETO.
President Cleveland Returns 10 The House
without His ArprOtai'fh Dependent
Pension Bill
lie Treats Fxhsustively the Whole Question OF
Pensions and Strongly Fortihes the
Position Taken.
Returned pi.approyes

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.-The president to-
lay sent the following message to the house
If representatives:
herewith return without my approval House
Bill No. lO,45l entitled San act for the relief
81 dependent parents and honorably discharged
ioldiersaud sailors who are now disabled and
dependent upon their own labor for support.
fhis is the first general bill that has been sane
.ioned by congress since the close of the late
sivIl war permitting pension TO the soldiers
and sailors who served in that war upon the
ground OF service and present disability alone.
and In the entire absence OF any injuries re-
eeved by casualties or incidents of such service.
While by almost constant legislation since the
close Of the war there has been compensation
awarded for every possible injury received as o
result Of military service in the Union army,
anu while a great number of laws passed
Tor that purpose have been sdmiris.
Tered with great iberality, and have been
supplemented by numerous private acts to reaeh
special cases, there has not, until now. been an
lyowed departure from the principle thus far
ldhered to respecting Union Soldiers, that the
bounty OF the government I'D the way of PEN
sions Is generously bestowed when granted %
tbos9 who, id the military service and the lIre
emit been dis"S;ed Bst II a mistake 10 sun
pose that servics pensions sach rs are permitted
by the second section OF the bill under con-
alteration are new TO our legislation; In ISIS,
lhirty-tiye years after the close OF the Reyolu-
ionary war there were granted TO, soldiers en-
gagged In that struggle. conditional upon service
until the end OF the war. or for term not
shciary under the act to be one who ia or there
litter ny reason of his reduced circumstances in
life shall be, in need OF assistance from his coun
Try for support Another law OF like character
was passed In 1928, requiring service until the
slose OF the revolutionary war: and still another
passed In 1884, providing for those persons not
Two years at some time during the war; and Civ
ng proportionate SUN TO those who had served
lot less than six months. A service pension
Aw was passed for the benefit Of
GfNT
m the year lS7l-fifty-six years after the close
81 that war-which required only sixty days
service; and another was passed In ls7s-sixty-
zen days service The service pension bill passed
II this session OF congress, thirty-nine years
nter the close Of the Mexican war, for the bene-
at OF the soldiers Of that war, REQUIRES either
soms degree of disability or dependency, or that
he claimant unoer its provisions should be
sixty-two years Of agei and In either case that
ae should have served sixty days or been
hat the bill Of 1878 and the Mexican pension
pill being thus passed nearer the close OF
he wars IN which .n its hcneteiaf les
Years and the other thirty mine years after the
termination Of such wars, embraced persons
who were advanced In age, assumed 20 DO COM
paratttely few In number and whose circum-
stances dependence and disabilities were
clearly defined and could be quite easily fixed.
The other laws referred to appear to have been
passed at a time so remote from the military
sertice OF the persons which they embraced that
their extreme age alone was deemed 70
supply a presumption OF dependency
and need. The number OF enlistments
stated to have been 800, 79l, and in the war Of
1879, 576.622; but 1t is estimated that, on ac-
count OF repeated Establishments. the number OF
individuals engaged in those wars did not ex-
ceed one-half of the plumber represented by
these figures. In the war with Mexico the num-
Der OF enlistments is reported 20 be H., $50,
which represents n greater proportion OF indi-
viduals engaged than the reported enllstments
In the two previous wars. The number Of PEN
sions granted under all the laws to soldiers Of
The Revolution is given at 62,069; TO soldiers OF
the war OF 1912 and their widows, co. IFS; and
The soldiers of the Mexican war and their Wild
ows, up to June 80, 1885, 1919. This number
Of pensions was granted TO the soldiers OF n war
involving much hardship, for disabilities in
Cured as result Of such service; and IL was not
until within the last month that the few re-
naming survivors were awarded service pen
sion
THE WAR OF THB Rebellion
terminated nearly twenty-five years ago The
number Of men furnished for its prosecution
was said to bs 2.172,40s No corresponding
humber Of statutes has Sver been passed 70
cover every kind Of injury or disability incurred
In the military service of any war. Under these
statutes 551, 576 pensions have been granted
from the year 1851 TO June 80, 1856, and more
than ., 500 pensioners have been added to the
rolls by private acts passed 20 meet cases, many
II them OF questionable merit-which the gem
sral laws did not cover On July 1, 1856, S65,-
763 pensioners of all classes were upon the pen
sion rolls OF whom sos, sos were survivors Of
the war Of the Rebellion and their widows and
dependents. For the year ending June 80,
1887, $50, 100000 have been appropriated for
the payment Of pensions, and the amount ex-
pended for that purpose from 1861 to July L,
1856. is sos, 624,s11.15 While anBnally pay
sIready granted. it is now proposed
by the bill under consideration 10 award serv-
Ice pension TO the soldiers Of all wa1k IN which
nss hen sS P,
OF $40 per month. So far as it Re. ates to the
soldiers Of the late civil war, the bounty 1t
affords them is given thirteen years earlier than
y has been furnished to the soldiers Of any
other war. and before q large majority of its
benehciaries have advanced In age beyond the
strength and vigor Of the prime Of life. II ex-
acts only q military or naval service Of three
months, without any requirement Of actual
engagement with an enemy In battle, and with
out q subsection to any OF the actual dangers of
war The pension 1t awards is allowed to en-
jury, disability. loss or damage of any kind. in
CURED in or in any degree referable to their mill
itary service, including those who
NEVER REACHED THE FRONT AT ALI.
and those discharged from rendezvous at the
close Of the war. II discharged three months
after enlistment. Under the last call of the
men were furnished who were thus discharged.
The section allowing this pension does, how
ever, require, beside a service OF three months
and an honorable discharge, that those seeking
or may hereafter be suffering from mental or
physical disability not the result Of their own
vicious habits or gross carelessness, which inca
FACILITATES them for the perfe rmance Of labor in
such degree as 20 render them unable to earn
a support and who are dependent upon their
daily labor for support 1t provides further
rhe fact, be placed on the list Of invalid PEN
sicnerS of the United States, and be entitled to
receive for such total inability to secure their
subsistence by daily labor SI2 per month;
n nd snrh shall from,
the date of the filing of the application In the
pension Office upon proof that the disability then
existed and continued during the existence Of
the same in the degree herein provided; that
persons who are not receiving their pensions I'M
der existing laws or whose claims pending
in the pension office, NAV by application to the
commissioner OF pensions. In such form he
may prescribe, be "benefciaries under this act"
IL IL of the utmost Importance that statutes
which. like pension laws. should be literally adj
ninistered as measures of beuevolence in behalf
Of worthy beneficiaries. should admit of no un-
certainty as TO their general objects and conse-
quelccs. Upon careful consideration of the
language Of the section Of the bill above given, it
seems TO me to be uncertain and liable to such
constructions, and to be subject to
such unjust and mischievous application a. to
alone furnish sufficient ground for Disappearing
the proposed legislation Persons seeking to OBJ
tain the pension provided by this section must
be now or hereafter: 81 Suffering from mental
or physical disability; (2l such disability must
gross carelessness: go such disability must be
such as incapacitates them for the performance
Of labor in such degsee as TO render them
UNABLE TO EARN A SUPPORT;
fourth, they must be dependent upon their
daily labor for support: fifth, upon proof Of
these conditions they shall be placed on the
lists OF invalid pensioners OF the United States
and be entitled TO receive for such total ina
bility to procure their subsistence by daily
labor S12 per month. at is not probable that
the words last quoted. such total inability to
procure their subsistence by daily lakJr," az all
qualify the conditions prescribed in the pre-
ceding language of the section. The total ina
bility" spoken Of must be such" inability; that
is, the inability already described and consti-
tuted by the conditions already detailed in the
previous parts Of the section. II thus becomes
important TO consider the meaning and the
scope of these last mentioned conditions. The
mental and physical disability spoken Of has
distinct meaning in the practice Of the pension
bureau, and includes every impairment of bodily
bilities there now paid i31 different rates OF
pensions, ranging from 81 10 500 per
month. This disability must not be
-the result Of the applicants vicious
habits or gross carelessness" Practically this
provision In not important. The attempt Of the
government to escape the payment of pension
on such plea would, of course. in a very large
majority OF instances, aud regardless of the
merits Of the case, prove failure There would
be that strange but nearly universal willingness
to help the individual, as between him and the
state of proof in favor Of the claimant. Tho
disability Of applicants must be such as to In
capacitate them for the performance of labor In
such degree as to render them unable to earn
q support" It will be observed that there is no
limitation or definition OF the incapacitating in
Jury or ailment itself 1t need only be such
degree Of disability from any cause as renders
the claimant unable to earn q support by labor.
1t seems TO me that the support" here mentioned
as one which cannot be earned Is a complete and
entire support with no diminution on account Of
the least impairment Of physical or mental con-
dition IL IL had been intended to embrace only
those who by disease or injury were
TOTALLY UNABLE TO LABOR,
10 would have been very easy to express that
instead Of recognizing, Is done. degree of
such inability What is a support--who is to
determine whether man earns 1t or has IL or
has IL not? Is the government to enter the
home OF claimants for pension and, after an ex-
animation of their surroundings and circu1I-